A review by benedettal
Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert

3.0

I didn’t love this story, but it had an unhinged quality I appreciated. “Sentimental Education” is such a great title, and I’m not sure it quite befits the novel, but still. I just find it amusing that Victorian society was so critical of previous generations (or entire eras) and managed to come across as this perfectly clean time in history (sex wise), while debauchery clearly ran rampant according to realist writers like Flaubert. Granted, fiction isn’t a faithful portrayal of history and society, but even so, for this author to keep coming back to these same themes is telling in contrast with the general image everyone seems to have. Rambling aside, I liked this better than Madame Bovary at least.